Supporting means for sewing machines and the like



May 6, 1 5 G. CROSA ETAL SUPPORTING MEANS FOR SEWING MACHINES AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 5, 1954 INVENTOR. GIACOMO CROSA- vBY LUIGI CROSA United States PatentO assis ant SUPPORTING MEANS FOR SEWING MACHINES AND THE LIKE Giacomo Crosa and Luigi Crosa, Genoa-Bolzaneto, Italy, assignors to Vittorio Necchi S. p. A., Pavia, Italy Application January 5, 1954, Serial No. 402,311

1 Claim. (Cl. 312-30) The object of the present inventionis to provide a device for concealing a sewing machine, a typewriter or the like inthe piece of furniture provided for it and. for

means, when the machine is moved to a concealed position, stores the energy required to move the machine so that this energy can be used to restore the machine to its operating position.

Other and further objects of this invention will become apparent from a reading of the following description together with the appended claim, in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 shows a side view of the piece of furniture on which the device is fixed, with a side panel removed;

Fig. 2 shows a front view of the piece shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 shows a horizontal section on a larger scale along the plane IIIIII of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 shows a plan view of some details of the device; and

Fig. 5 shows on a larger scale a different embodiment of the means for stopping the sewing machine in the lowered position.

The piece of furniture consists of two side panels 1 and 2 and a rear panel 3 all vertical. The working table for the machine is indicated at 4, and 5 is the cover of the piece for furniture placed in the position in which the machine is in the concealed or inoperative position.

Table 4 has an opening which is adapted to be completely filled by the table 6 on which the head of the sewing machine, indicated by broken lines in Fig. 2, is fixed. Table 6 is fixed on the frame 12 which is welded to the outside of a tube 9 and has two side projections or plates 12' designed to abut on the lower face of table 4 when the machine is in working position (Fig. 2); thus the upper faces of tables 4 and 6 are at the same level.

On the side panels 1 and 2 of the piece of furniture are fixed the plates 7 and 8, each one carrying a boss on which the tube 9 is mounted for rotation. In the inside of the tube 9 a coil spring 10 is mounted, one end of which is fixed on the plate 8 and the other end is fixed on a ring 11 rotatable within the tube 9 and provided with radial holes, which holes are in correspondence with a groove 40 made in the tube 9. The groove has a length which subtends an are including three holes on the ring 11. On plate 8 is fixed the end pin 16 of a cylinder 15, in which cylinder a piston is movable, therod of which ends with a fork 14 connected at 13 with a lug 9' on the tube 9. The piston and the cylinder operate as hydraulic brake. The piston may present, in a known way, an opening for passage of fluid from the one chamber of the cylinder to 2 the other, may have some other suitable throttling means. On the same plate 8 M18, a lever 17 provided witha tooth 17 is disposed and has a spring 19 connecting a point of lever 17 with the plate 8; I

A sewing machine in working position (Fig. 2) onjthe table 6 having its uppersurface on the same level astable 4 is held up by the action'of spring'lo which prevents "the rotation of tube 9 and therefore rotation of frame 12 supporting the table 6 of the sewing machine.

When concealment of the machine is desired a slight pressure in the direction ofarrow 20,"Fig. l, on the machine forces 6 and its supporting frame 12 to rotate in the same direction together with the tube 9 on pivots carried by plates 7 and 8. During this rotation the spring 10 stores the energy necessary tomove table '6 and the movement continues until one projection 12' on'frame 12 engages the tooth 17' of lever 17; During this movement the piston connected with fork- 14runs into the cylinder 15 which will rotate on pin 16 and permit thenecessary movements. After thisthe cover 5 may be tilted into the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2 to cover the opening in table 4.

Should it be desired. to bring the machineagain into its operating position, the cover 5 is tiltedback out of the way and by handaction on the end of lever 17 the tooth 17' is released from the projection 12. Then spring 10 will impart to table 6 and to the machine mounted on it the energy stored therein. The movement will be slowed down by the cylinder 15 and corresponding piston. The movement will proceed smoothly until projections 12 have reached the under face of table 4 and lay against it.

- The lifting movement is a function of the stress of spring 10. In order to adjust the said stress a pin is passed through the groove disposed in tube 9 and inverted into one of the holes in ring 11 to which one of the ends of spring 10 is connected, and then said sleeve is rotated until the desired stress'for spring 10 is reached. A second pin will be introduced through the slot of tube 9 into another one of the holes of sleeve 11, and then spring 10 is allowed to move said second pin to the end of said groove.

The piece of furniture has the wheels 30 and 31 permitting it to be pushed from one place to another. The wheels 31 have a fixed axis and the wheels 30 have a vertical pin on which they also rotate. Further, the cylinder 9 has a tooth 21 (Fig. 4) suitable when the sewing machine is in working position for exerting pressure on the upper end of a rod 32, which rod is guided for sliding in a veitical direction within sleeves 23 having a guideway 22 mounted at the inside of panel 3 and which slides under the reaction of a spring 28 connected at one end 27 to the piece of furniture and at its other end 29 with the rod 32. Spring 28 tends to draw rod 32 upwardly.

On the lower end, rod 32 works on a spring 24 and thus on a block 25 having a rubber button 26 on the bottom thereof. The block slides vertically along a guide 23 (Fig. 1). Thus, as long as the sewing machine is in the concealed position, the rod 32 is drawn upwardly and button 26 is not pressing on the floor so that the piece of furniture may easily slide on the wheels 39, 31 on the floor. When, on the contrary, the sewing machine is in working position (Fig. 2), the cylinder 9 takes a position such that tooth 21 will exert a pressure on the head of rod 32 and have it slide downwardly pressing the spring 24 which in its turn will press the rubber button 26 against the floor blocking further sliding of the piece of furniture on the floor.

The disengagement of the frame 12 may also be effected in a different way from the one shown in Figs. 1 to 4, and more conveniently it may be effected and controlled through the movement of the cover 5 mounted has onits lower faceaprojection 34 placed in such a w'aythat, when the cover is atthe end of its sliding opening movement, while the sewingmachine is in the lowered positionat the inside of the piece of 1 furniture with the frame 12 engaged by a, tooth of the arm 35 pivoted on the rod 36 mounted for-rotation in 37, the said projection 34abuts an :arm 38 offthe rod 36 and, overcoming the actionofth espring 39, rotates the assembly 38, 36, 35 in such a way thatthe tooth on the arm 35 disengages from the frame 12, which is raised by the energy storing means 9, 10 under the control of thebrake means 15, 14.

It is thought that the invention and its advantages will be understood from the foregoing description and it is apparent that various changes may be made in the form constructions and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit; and scope of the invention or sacrificing its material advantages, the forms hereinbefore described and illustrated in the drawings being merely preferred embodiments thereoflj What we'claim is:

A device for lowering a sewing machine ,or the like intoa piece of furniture through an opening in the top thereof, comprising a table on wheels on which said machine is positioned, a tube beneath one edge of said table to which said table is attached, said tube journaled in a horizontal position to said piece of furniture, a coil spring within said tube, one end of which is attached to said tube and the other end to said piece of furniture, means for preventing movement of said table in relation to the surface on which said wheels stand comprising a rod having a rubber stop on the lower end thereof slidably mounted on said piece of furniture, said tube having an extension thereon adapted to bear against the end of said rod opposite the rubber stop to press said rod downwardly and cause said stop to engage said surface, and spring means normally urging said rod upwardly to disengage said rubber stop from said surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

